Toyota Recall Companion Pt. 3: What Akio Had To Say

Mark McGwire was a hell of a baseball player. On the field, he was unstoppable. In court, not so much. Same with Roger Clemens. Testifying just wasn't their bag. How about Akio Toyoda? How did he fare against the awkward jabs and sideways questions presented to him on Capitol Hill?

I am Akio Toyoda of Toyota Motor Corporation. I would first like to state that I love cars asmuch as anyone, and I love Toyota as much as anyone. I take the utmost pleasure in offeringvehicles that our customers love, and I know that Toyota’s 200,000 team members, dealers, andsuppliers across America feel the same way. However, in the past few months, our customershave started to feel uncertain about the safety of Toyota’s vehicles, and I take full responsibilityfor that. Today, I would like to explain to the American people, as well as our customers in theU.S. and around the world, how seriously Toyota takes the quality and safety of its vehicles. Iwould like to express my appreciation to Chairman Towns and Ranking Member Issa, as well asthe members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, for giving me thisopportunity to express my thoughts today.

I would like to focus my comments on three topics – Toyota’s basic philosophy regarding qualitycontrol, the cause of the recalls, and how we will manage quality control going forward.First, I want to discuss the philosophy of Toyota’s quality control. I myself, as well as Toyota,am not perfect. At times, we do find defects. But in such situations, we always stop, strive tounderstand the problem, and make changes to improve further. In the name of the company, itslong-standing tradition and pride, we never run away from our problems or pretend we don’tnotice them. By making continuous improvements, we aim to continue offering even betterproducts for society. That is the core value we have kept closest to our hearts since the foundingdays of the company.

At Toyota, we believe the key to making quality products is to develop quality people. Eachemployee thinks about what he or she should do, continuously making improvements, and bydoing so, makes even better cars. We have been actively engaged in developing people whoshare and can execute on this core value. It has been over 50 years since we began selling in thisgreat country, and over 25 years since we started production here. And in the process, we havebeen able to share this core value with the 200,000 people at Toyota operations, dealers, andsuppliers in this country. That is what I am most proud of.

Second, I would like to discuss what caused the recall issues we are facing now. Toyota has, forthe past few years, been expanding its business rapidly. Quite frankly, I fear the pace at whichwe have grown may have been too quick. I would like to point out here that Toyota’s priorityhas traditionally been the following: First- Safety, Second- Quality, and Third- Volume. Thesetwo priorities became confused, and we were not able to stop, think, and make improvements asmuch as we were able to before, and our basic stance to listen to customers’ voices to makebetter products has weakened somewhat. We pursued growth over the speed at which we wereable to develop our people and our organization, and we should sincerely be mindful of that. Iregret that this has resulted in the safety issues described in the recalls we face today, and I amdeeply sorry for any accidents that Toyota drivers have experienced.

Especially, I would like to extend my condolences to the members of the Saylor family, for theaccident in San Diego. I would like to send my prayers again, and I will do everything in mypower to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again.

Since last June, when I first took office, I have personally placed the highest priority onimproving quality over quantity, and I have shared that direction with our stakeholders. As youwell know, I am the grandson of the founder, and all the Toyota vehicles bear my name. For me,when the cars are damaged, it is as though I am as well. I, more than anyone, wish for Toyota’scars to be safe, and for our customers to feel safe when they use our vehicles. Under myleadership, I would like to reaffirm our values of placing safety and quality the highest on our listof priorities, which we have held to firmly from the time we were founded. I will also strive todevise a system in which we can surely execute what we value.

Third, I would like to discuss how we plan to manage quality control as we go forward. Up tonow, any decisions on conducting recalls have been made by the Customer Quality EngineeringDivision at Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan. This division confirms whether there aretechnical problems and makes a decision on the necessity of a recall. However, reflecting on theissues today, what we lacked was the customers’ perspective.

To make improvements on this, we will make the following changes to the recall decisionmakingprocess. When recall decisions are made, a step will be added in the process to ensurethat management will make a responsible decision from the perspective of “customer safetyfirst.” To do that, we will devise a system in which customers’ voices around the world willreach our management in a timely manner, and also a system in which each region will be able tomake decisions as necessary. Further, we will form a quality advisory group composed ofrespected outside experts from North America and around the world to ensure that we do notmake a misguided decision. Finally, we will invest heavily in quality in the U.S., through theestablishment of an Automotive Center of Quality Excellence, the introduction of a new position– Product Safety Executive, and the sharing of more information and responsibility within thecompany for product quality decisions, including defects and recalls.

Even more importantly, I will ensure that members of the management team actually drive thecars, and that they check for themselves where the problem lies as well as its severity. I myselfam a trained test driver. As a professional, I am able to check on problems in a car, and canunderstand how severe the safety concern is in a car. I drove the vehicles in the accelerator pedalrecall as well as the Prius, comparing the vehicles before and after the remedy in variousenvironmental settings. I believe that only by examining the problems on-site, can one makedecisions from the customer perspective. One cannot rely on reports or data in a meeting room.

Through the measures I have just discussed, and with whatever results we obtain from theinvestigations we are conducting in cooperation with NHTSA, I intend to further improve on thequality of Toyota vehicles and fulfill our principle of putting the customer first.My name is on every car. You have my personal commitment that Toyota will work vigorouslyand unceasingly to restore the trust of our customers.

Thank you.

Next Installment: What did (the real jerk in all of this), Mr. Inaba, have to say?